The last winner of this Region was Gordon State in 2019 who lost to Walters State in the District Title Game.
Region 17 only has 6 teams in it so every team gets a shot to take home the regional crown. The final season standings went as followed:
- #22 Georgia Highlands 39-13 (18-10)
- Gordon 30-10 (19-11)
- Andrew 31-22-1 (16-14)
- East Georgia 29-20 (14-14)
- Abraham Baldwin 19-28 (12-18)
- South Georgia 26-23 (9-21)
Both the Top 2 Seeds get a First Round Bye.
The first 2 games are “Play-In” Games towards the Double Elimination Part of the Tournament.
*All Pitchers are Projected Guys. Nothing has been Confirmed.
Game 1: 4-Seed East Georgia State vs 5-Seed Abraham Baldwin
This season East Georgia and Abraham Baldwin (ABAC) have played 6 Times with East Georgia taking the Regular Season Series 4-2.
ABAC comes into this tournament riding a 7-game Win streak with wins over South Georgia (4-0 Series Sweep) and Georgia Highlands (Took last 3 Games of the 4 Game Set).
East Georgia comes into this tournament winning 5 of their last 7 games taking a 3-1 series from Andrews, and splitting with Gordon State.
Projected Starters *All Pitchers are Projected Guys. Nothing has been Confirmed.
EGS – Cameron Oliu (RHP) (Uncommitted) – 4-3, 52.2 IP, 7.35 ERA, 80 K
ABAC – Brett Potts (LHP) (Uncommitted) – 1-4, 50.1 IP, 4.11 IP, 25 K
Prediction: Both Teams have been getting hot at the right time when being a lower seed. But I (Noah) feel like this is going to be a very tight game till the very end but ABAC Coming out on top and advancing to play the #1 Seed Georgia Highlands.
Game 2: 3-Seed Andrew vs 6-Seed South Georgia
This season Andrew and South Georgia played 6 times with Andrew Taking the Regular Season Series 4-2.
Andrew comes into the tournament in a bit of a slump. Losing 5 of their last 7 games. 2 of those being to South Georgia.
South Georgia comes into the Tournament in the same boat as Andrew, losing 5 of their last 7.
Projected Starters *All Pitchers are Projected Guys. Nothing has been Confirmed.
Andrew – Jonah Stout (RHP) (Emmanuel Commit) – 6-5, 73.2 IP, 4.52 ERA, 60 K
South Georgia – Jacob Fletcher – 1-5, 52.0 IP, 6.23 ERA, 33 K
Prediction: Both these teams as mentioned are both in slumps. But again I (Noah) feel like this is going to be a back and forth tight game with Andrew’s coming out on top to play the #2 Seed Gordon State.
The Top 2 Seeds
Georgia Highlands has been in our Top 25 all season. It seems to have been a tale of two seasons though. They started off the season going 29-4 from the start of the season to the end of March. Sense the start of April however they are 10-8. Yes, are different sample sizes, but that back half was the bulk of their conference schedule. They come into the tournament losing both the last 2 series to Abraham Baldwin and Gordon State.
Projected Game 3 Starter: Conner Perry (RHP) (Uncommitted) – 9-1, 59.2 IP, 3.62 ERA, 69 K
Projected Game 5 or 6 Starter: Johnny Dow (RHP) (Georgia State Commit) – 7-1, 63.0 IP, 2.14 ERA, 54 K
Gordon State like Georgia Highlands has had a tail of 2 seasons. To open the season they started going 18-12 through March. After being ranked in our Preseason Top 25 they fell out after a few weeks. Sense the start of April however they have gone 12-7 not losing a series to finish out the season. They come into the Tournament after taking their final series of the year against Georgia Highlands
Projected Game 4 Starter: Trey Felt (RHP) (Uncommitted) – 3-0, 53.2 IP, 5.03 ERA, 45 K
Projected Game 5 or 6 Starter: Jaxon O’Neal (LHP) (Uncommitted) – 2-0, 41.0 IP, 6.37 ERA, 38 K
Tournament Projection
I (Noah) feel like this is going to be tougher than most years. If the first 2 games go how i think it will. I think that I could see ABAC surprising Georgia Highlands in game 3, Gordon standing strong and beating Andrew’s in Game 4, Gordon beating ABAC in Game 5, Georgia Highlands beating Andrews’s in Game 6. Georgia Highlands beating ABAC in Game 7, and Gordon Beating Georgia Highlands in Game 8.
Now again this is just a guess. And anything can happen. I do feel though that Georgia Highlands is the most equipped to go through the losers bracket if they make it there. But in the end I feel like it will come down to either Gordon State or Georgia Highlands taking home the 2021 Region 17 Crown with a chance to win the Appalachian district Title against the winner or Region 7.
Chris’s Prediction- Georgia Highlands